france pushes to retake mali from islamist militants as towels rage across the country while the number of victims in the jury in a hostage crisis triggered by the campaign rises to forty eight. presidents rock obama officially begins his second term in office with manning waiting to see if he will deliver on numerous promises of domestic and foreign issues. and japan warns china over its naval presence near disputed islands in the east china sea as beijing slams washington stands on the territory of conflict.

it is one pm in the russian capital watching r t with me marina joshie a twenty five more bodies have been found in the wake of the old jury and desert hostage crisis bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to forty eight hours they have arrested five suspected islamist attackers after earlier reports that all thirty two militants have been killed in the operation to and the siege as many as twenty workers still remain unaccounted for as foreign governments try to track down there are missing citizens and al-qaeda linked group claimed to know they are behind the attack which they say is in revenge for french intervention in neighboring mali heavily armed insurgents rate of the plans on wednesday with an initial jury in response during criticism from western nations and authorities pony boy who now reports the campaign amalia which sparked the hostage situation appears to be a part of a french geo political agenda. to do a piece but it's. terrorism was about to overwhelm the friendly country the

terrorism that threatens not just all of west africa but also the entire world. he's vowed that france won't stop its intervention in mali until islam a kick stream is in the country is stamped out the military has announced that it's going to be sending more troops but the total set to exceed two hundred thousand to the stated goal to help the government in bamako drive out to slimmest insurgents before the francoise alarms talk of freedom and democracy critics say the french government you see as a for the military offensive could be linked to other elements u.a.d. of these fronts. many people say a huge cost is a huge factor in its economy and it's something that not only mali but specifically niger and other amazing parts where the tourist people reside. sits on top of almost every single light bulb in france runs on electricity generated by nuclear

power power relies on a steady flow of pure rainy i'm so you don't have to be a nuclear physicist to figure out that to keep all these bright lights on the french government depends on a steady flow of the precious natural resource but money says mr i learned it's not it's about power or money. and security this is nothing to do with any political issue from a different time if we are defending a government or business interests which government which business. some have their suspicions nationally supported the french energy company. is about to finish the second largest ukrainian mining plant in the world next to mali every year because to extract the machinery is going to be very cheap there's a third world very few predators playing. very dangerous game and after the french

military offensive reportedly sparked a deadly hostage crisis in algeria light bulbs are beginning to go off in the heads of ordinary citizens to pour out the almost also the mighty time for intervention if it is to fight terrorists but it's got to be for good reasons you might know that it's for raw materials that are in mali oil diamonds and gold already when there's a girl to the north of more prefer they don't think about their workers well we hope they have made paris a huge target and from such a target for terrorism studies but with the prospect of an untapped natural resources needed to keep fronts illuminated political analysts say that for a promise to still play big brother to former colonies is a game to be fulfilled any time soon buddy boy can see paris. while the friends of fans minister said quote the goal is the toler reconquest of

mali let's now see if france can actually avoid a drawn out campaign as president francois hollande hopes for at the start of the intervention well if we take a look at the map here we can see that the area marked in yellow is controlled by al qaida linked to rebels and the local to regen surgeons in the area is in fact quite big ironically it's almost about the size of france now some of the weapons used by mali's insurgents came from the french led overthrow of the khadafi regime in libya france itself airdrop arms to the libyan rebels while gadhafi is arsenal was also raided after his fall and now there are concerns about libyan smugglers taking more arms thrill jury and into mali you can see the road over the on the map as well well this could make it difficult for france to fully secure the area in a short amount of time as it initially planned so international relations professor mark almond says the current situation in mali could lead to even further unrest

across the region. we're getting a kind of and i will to this problem is a kind of back course from that intervention because you have not ordered through what's going to happen if you overthrow gadhafi but you don't actually put anything stable in its place quite a culture of chaos spreads and similarly in mali the argument is for intervening to stop chaos but the risk must be from what we've seen with interventions before that the french intervention will actually tend to send recalls and disorder further around the region and nobody seems to think that perhaps organized groups can come from somewhere other than mali it seems they came across the nearby libyan border libya is as i say central to all this problem because all the lot of weapons that's been produced by the quotes the gadhafi regime but also the complete failure to establish any kind of real state you have essentially move towards operating in different parts of libya. barack obama has officially began his second presidential

term after being sworn in at the white house later on mandate he will spell out his vision for the next four years and he is an address but he's being criticized for failing to keep old promises to and the wars and asians involved in to cut the u.s. deficit and to shut down the guantanamo bay detention center by his ideas that she can only force there are even more pledges he's not addressed. it's generally thought that a second term six u.s. presidents free walks those handcuffs that kept them from doing great things in their first term because they had to think about getting reelected all the time in the last four years we've heard many times president obama's hands are tied on this issue word that issue suppose this election has on tied his hands we don't have a crystal ball to tell you what he's going to do with those three presidential hands but we may already see signs of what is to come. president obama steps into his second term carrying a heavy load of promises along with the. threat of another devastating.

for four years president obama pushed to a great extent by israel. war with iran i will take no options off the tape and what i see. is that some believe the appointment of chuck hagel as defense secretary who is known to have been against a strike on iran may be a sign that the new obama administration will be less warmongering towards the word but two of the country's leading middle east experts orange convinced vision i would bet a certain amount of money we will hear the words all options are on the table come out of his come out of his mouth in addition to the hagel appointment we have the appointment of john brennan at the cia who i think is someone who the israelis are just fine with who will continue many of the covert programs of course our drone program but many of the covert programs that would be under his under his authority at the cia that will be very much to israel's liking that will serve to undermine

any attempts or any possibilities for a real are coming to terms of the islamic republic of iran john brennan has been in charge of president obama's targeted assassinations program is a point of push the notorious war on terror in a different perspective and shows that it's far from over they want wars that will not redound against them at home politically so they don't want any more body bags they don't want more american troops. killed to the extent they want to prevent that they want to have all the soldiers sitting in alexandria virginia or los angeles or whatever and running the broom for the killing people what their words are gonna stand or yemen or iran or you know were else however over the next four years the administration's reach will extend far beyond the middle east as it is said to continue its pivot to asia as well as building a missile shield provocatively close to russia's borders last year and a hot mike moment president obama told russia's made that event if that in his second term he'd be more flexible to discuss moscow less certain.

but it could turn out to be flexibility to words only president action if it leads to russia is still we opposed to it still sees it as we're just going to go ahead with it while president obama may have more control over foreign policy domestically there is a greater chance of his agenda getting bogged down in congress like gun control and the executive orders are useless and legislative proposals and i suspect will not pass in this country and i don't think it's in the offing anywhere in the near future because we are a culture that is very deeply. in love with our guns in the last four years congress more than was attempted to sabotage the president on key economic issues including reaching a last minute deal as the country teetered on the edge of fiscal cliff is huge when

presidents who have trouble with congress like to do international things because they have to worry about congress much less the president's actions so far have show little possibility that in the next four years he will be any more flexible on major foreign policy issues as far as is the mess that could join the many doubt whether he's never ending battle with congress to allow him to move significantly beyond inspiring speeches in washington i'm kind of checking. whether obama given a second chance at change anti-war activists john glaser says there are one be any noticeable shift in the president's policies. as is typical with politicians what they say is very different from what they do there is a broad bipartisan consensus on some of the most terrible. security issues that affect us on the domestic front i mean for example warrantless wiretapping this is a policy that was why it leakers. when the bush administration was in power and now the obama administration has you know uniformly embraced it the obama

administration has aggressively refused to allow any checks and balances and has even refused congressional requests to disclose how many americans are for been spied on so things like that i mean a really troubling and i don't think he's going to get as much pushback from congress as as one might hope in the foreign policy realm obama has unfortunately continued much of his predecessor's excesses and recklessness we will see a continuation of foreign policy of extreme interventionism getting involved in every corner of the planet. regardless of the consequences. now so we have for this hour alarms bells ringing for germany's chancellor merkel the party suffer as another regional voting downs gets stronger she'll win a third term in office. and running for your own life and later on we have the story of a half naked man who fell from a train in the middle of

a frozen forest and managed to survive that's coming after a short break to stay with us. do we speak your language or not advance. the music programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you breaking news a little turn it into angles kitten's stories. are you here. to enjoy it all teach spanish find out more visit i to allahabad all tito is calm.

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mistress of the cave on auntie. welcome back you're watching r.t. coming to you live from moscow where german chancellor angela merkel's party has lost a key regional election marking another setback for the ruling coalition it means merkel will have to struggle to be reelected as the september vote will put our politics to the test well for more on this let's now cross to appear all over who is in berlin for us hello to you peter well it's not the first defeat of the ruling center right coalition is chances of staying in power seem to be getting slimmer don't they what more can you tell us about that. well the numbers don't lie here it's the thirteenth setback in local elections that anglo merkel's christian democrat party and their coalition partners the free democrats have suffered it's

also more importantly the fifty the fifty states government which they've lost to the social democrats since two thousand and nine this vote in lower saxony which is the fourth most populous state in germany it's also spread over a huge area about the size of the netherlands from the border with the netherlands over to the old east german border now it seemed very much a bellwether of opinion and it was incredibly tight setting us up perhaps for an incredibly tight general election towards the end of this she had put down just how close it was the s.d.p. and they green partners the green party partners of upon picked up forty six point three percent of the vote just ahead of the c.d.u. and the democrats with forty five point nine percent of the vote if you think that's come down to being very very close indeed well it was by one seat and what it does mean though even by the smallest of margins the social democrats well they smelled blood heading into the general election their candidate for the

chancellorship steinbrück said that well this shows that a change of government and power is possible here now the s.t.p. if they had a few problems going into this they were accused of making a few gaffes along the way. and their chairman sum that up by saying well if we get a result like this when we mess up anything is possible so they seem very buoyant heading into the election campaign following this result in lower saxony in which they've edged out angela merkel well let's talk more about anglo-american now and specifically why is her popularity dwindling now could it be somehow linked to the handling of the eurozone debt crisis. right now what's interesting when you look at this particular particular local election is the euro zone crisis really didn't come into it this was a local election where people were voting on local issues now it's in that area where mrs merkel is starting to show some weaknesses as it were and her christian

democratic party and the coalition partners starting to show some weaknesses personally mrs merkel remains quite popular here in germany due to the fact that the way that she is viewed of having kept germany's economy ticking over as it were in the against the backdrop of the eurozone crisis but it's when it comes to those local issues that affect germans on the day to day as opposed to the international stage of the european stage where she's starting to look a little vulnerable and this is why the opposition parties the main opposition parties like the the s.t.p. and the green party they certainly smell blood and they're looking to try and push all the way for that for that chancellorship election coming up towards the end of the year all right peter thanks so much indeed for this update peter all of our reporting there from. moving on now japan's foreign ministry has lodged an official protest with china after three of the chips were sided in the east china sea near

disputed islands comes after beijing slammed washington's position on the conflict urging it to be careful with its words and maintain peace in the region. the u.s. warned its against any action it out would undermine japanese administration of the territories at the same time sector is secretary of state hillary clinton said take a position on how one who has sovereignty over the islands china has and ships and planes to the area claiming it's exercising normal jurisdiction in its waters and airspace to patent turns out it may fire warning shots at foreign aircraft violating what it sees as its territory founder of international strategic alliances george who says it's the us and japan who are asking the tension the us has this role of being the the policeman around the world and spreading the military forces all around the world now can they afford it but that's a different question because it seems like in order to to meet their military

budget which is ever increasing they're probably going to have to borrow the money and most likely they'll be borrowing the money from the chinese china has. been. asking japan to recognize and negotiate rather than rushing ratcheting up the tension of course japan and inviting electing is not going to help because it is very well known. in this particular situation and the u.s. for its own strategic reason view japan as to prefer ally and that's what's clear and good in agree this friction but i am not sure that i think cooler heads will will come and not go to war over these little specks of violence certainly china has never been. the aggressor in terms of in terms of these disputes.

syria's opposition coalition is struggling to form an interim government the hat of the group has flown into tar trying to secure promises of financial aid for it in rebel held areas the opposition is mulling the idea of a government and exile with differences remaining over who should lead the exactitude this has serious foreign minister has called on asses opponents to lay down arms and start and national dialogue the opposition groups though rejected earlier calls for toxic in more support from their western arab backers in stat political analyst leadership as these as the syrian opposition is incapable of forging and united front. you know. some elements are. in table. here and. there and in syria make sure it's true. and you would be wrong this.

part of the. boston brother. over. the news when you can go for a mission you also need time to see the old rebel forces in syria like three to do normally they are named you have to be our new room you heard from these moments right mirrors that are closer won't try to. be within shared secular bylines or corner members of your position so really we see the. old lines the opposition there will be recurrent. fighting is on day one we moved to you know mass. and israel seems to be bringing up a generation of young patriots for money as government bonuses to high school to succeed and motivated students to do their army service for more on that had to our team doc. also online europe katie says now are extremely

low tech. as a result. canceled across the continent. i've . lived. i've.

lived. welcome back you're watching art you live from moscow now let's take a look at some other stories from around the world at the two insurgents been killed in a gun battle with security forces in the afghan capital kabul close to the parliament building that follows a multiple suicide bomb attack on a nearby traffic police compound at least four police and six civilians were injured in the assault on the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack a second in less than a week. a courthouse has been set on fire in the egyptian city of alexandria following day long clashes between rival east and protesters demonstrators were demanding justice in the trial of former security officers accused of killings during the twenty seven uprising violence first erupted when

the presiding judge abruptly resigned without carrying out his duties. as well as president hugo chavez is reported to be gaining strength and recovering well following respiratory complications after cancer surgery that's according to vice president nicolas maduro the duras says he met with the leader and discussed important issues of state up with chavis should have taken his goals on the t. end of january but has not been seen in public since his latest operation in the december prompting outrage from the opposition demanding new elections. catching a train became a matter of life and death for one russian man who fell from his carriage in subzero temperatures in a forest in russia's far east earlier artist hobart and told my colleague sean thomas the story. if we picture the scene we've got forty two year old valarie malkoff a lorry driver in this train clickety clack ing its way through the forests in the

a more region in russia's far east at night they decide to go for a cigarette but nothing special so he goes to the vestibule at the end of the carriage smokes his cigarette and then as he stays went to open the door to go back to his carriage except it was the wrong door and he falls out the back of the train so he rapidly realizes that he is not just running to catch up with the train but for his very life we managed to talk to him earlier he was a little bit embarrassed about the whole thing when i fell out i only had parents slippers and t. shirts but i ran for seven kilometers i didn't curse minitab and i just saw the train was gone so i came quickly to my senses and started running so that i didn't freeze i ran on the railway track for about twenty or thirty minutes when i go to the nearest station their eyes are. a man with almost no clothes on women who gave me two and reported were just happened i introduced to anybody my wife found out

about the incident only after journalists called her i would imagine that the phone call he had with his wife after she had found help not from him but from journalists was possibly a little bit strained luckily he's ok no injuries no hypothermia or his back at work there will be an investigation into perhaps the whether the train guard had forgotten to lock the back door of the train which as we can see was probably quite a big oversight if it turns out that that was what happened it's also possibly one factor that made him run a bit faster was that we've recently reported on in the far east in siberia there's been quite a lot of problems with packs of ravenous wolves being there so i imagine if we had that in mind if you knew about that possibly something to spur him on a bit faster. and in just a few minutes peta will balance of power of gas discuss the image of russia as seen by the outside world to statements that.

georgian president mikheil saakashvili is military police have been accused by prosecutors of using a very unusual weapon to control members of the government a weapon so unusual that history's great villains wouldn't even touch it that weapon was almost sexuality the georgian prosecutor's office claims a network of gay spies was set up to seduce certain politicians in order to surveil them and blackmail them the gay spies would tempt men in the government into going back to their apartments which were filled with hidden cameras and microphones to record information and create a not safe for work video to be used to put pressure on these officials this is truly one of the most unique and kind of gross weapons of political intrigue i've ever heard of i mean how many men in georgia politics could possibly fall into the

spy trap you know if he actually did implement this scheme and it actually worked than machiavelli and von bismarck could have a thing or two to learn from president saakashvili but that's just my opinion. hello in welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle russia what is its reputation in the world at least according to western media doesn't deserve it and what can russia do to change it. to discuss russia's branding i'm joined by victoria pound over she's an associate professor at mosque.